If the Playbook Looks Familiar, That's Because It Is.
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| Karl Radek in 1919. |
It's not hard to see with considerable specificity what the Trumpies and the troglodytic swine behind Project 2025 have in mind for us. First of all, they are telling us, in great detail. And, second, we've seen it all before. Multiple times.
Timothy Snyder has just provided a brief but comprehensive summary of the most important ways to fight back against these despicable fascists. To see the story on Substack, click here.
Recently I stumbled across yet another example of the past providing clarity for the present. It's a 1923 article by Karl Radek that analyzes the underlying causes of fascism in central and southern Europe after World War I. Here is a brief extract from the article:
"What is the ultimate cause of the Fascist movement? The ultimate cause of the Fascist movement is the reduction of great numbers of the middle classes to the condition of the proletariat as an outcome of the war. Disordered public finance, demoralized currency, rising prices, and enormous taxes have pauperized our educated classes, civil servants, army officers, and an important faction of our independent artisans and tradesmen. These people are seeking to save themselves. They are trying to find a new formula for life.
"Immediately after the war the Social Democrats and other representatives of the petty bourgeoisie gained control of the government in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Italy. The distressed classes we have just mentioned hoped thus to bring about a change in their favor. But such a reform could be won only by a determined struggle with the great capitalists, and the adoption of Socialist measures. The Social Democrats failed, because they feared Big Capital and distrusted the ability of the proletariat. They not only compromised with their opponents but capitulated to them. This destroyed the faith of both the working people and the middle classes in Socialism itself.
"Since the condition of the middle classes grew steadily worse, they were forced to try other methods, and resorted to Fascism, whose motto is: ‘Destroy this lying democracy that merely stands for corruption and profiteering and ruins the industrious commons. Let us set up a strong government of bold, vigorous men, competent to run things, who will start our factories going, make our railways pay, give remunerative employment to our starving bourgeoisie, and rescue from ruin the educated classes.’
"Capitalists use this Fascist ideology to destroy our impotent democracy. This democracy does not, to be sure, prevent their controlling our economic life, but it is proving a less serviceable tool than they would like."
To see the whole article, click here.
Radek was what we used to call a Commie. He was also very smart, he was there, and we should listen to him. Born in what is now Lviv, Ukraine, he got his start as a revolutionary in 1905, when there were, shall we say, disturbances in the land of the Czars. He later became close to Lenin and participated in the 1917 revolution in Russia and the German revolution of 1918-1919, and he became a leader of the Comintern, the organization that sought to spread communism throughout the world. With the rise of Stalin, things went less well for him. Sources conflict about the end of his life, but he may well have died in a labor camp in 1939.
My first reaction to this article is that it reinforces my thought that the underlying problem in America is the hollowing out of the middle classes that has taken place over the last several decades, starting with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as president in January 1981. My second reaction has to do with the role of the rich in our society - the bankers, the industrialists, those with inherited fortunes. And I think that Radek is right: I think many of these people value their money more than the democracy they live in. Peter Thiel may not be alone when he says, "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible." (For Thiel, freedom is the ability of rich people to do whatever they want.)
For a good roundup on efforts to inform Americans about Project 2025 and what it means for them, see this recent Substack post by Joyce Vance.
By the way, if you're waiting for a Walter Cronkite moment, forget it. The major media are not going to do their job here.
The photo of Karl Radek is from Wikimedia Commons.
See also Campaign Poster Number Two.
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